Digital Living

OpenOffice.org Conference 2007 - Barcelona - Day 2 & 3

The potential of OpenOffice.org shall be seen not only from its ability to edit and produce document, but more importantly from its increasing capability to produce open-document that people and machine can act and operate on those later on.

This truly important capability -- known as "ODF" -- significantly transform the meaning of OpenOffice.org for people in the context of processes automation and business; and it significantly brings up an exciting horizon about new possibilities of OpenOffice. People now perhaps should perceive OpenOffice.org no longer just as a tool for creating ´static documents´, but -- more importantly -- it shall be seen as a tool for creating secure yet open-documents that both human and machine can understand.

As people around the world increasingly getting connected, as processes start being digitized, and as machine also start to need to talk each other, having this OPEN-DOCUMENT-FORMAT that everybody confirm and understand really become important.

The implications of this would be huge.

Based on these new ODF creation and new ODF processing capabilities, people and automated computer systems around the world would have a better and much cooler/faster/powerful mechanism to enable effective human-to-human interaction, productive human-to-machine interaction, as well as a much seamless machine-to-machine interaction.

Understanding such spirit, supporting and driving the success and adoption of OpenOffice.org in any organization around the world is becoming important. By having more and more people adapting this open format and standard, we would have a much better information and system-operation foundation for the business, community, and society around the world.

ODF shall be the next better platform that the world shall embrace. It shall become the next platform of choice for business/people/process/machine  automation, interaction, exchange and innovation that -- in the short and long run -- shall protect and benefit society for the better.

To contribute something that is truly open and belong to the people. To establish a new open, better foundation that would also at the same time becoming truly powerful and useful for the people and greater society as a whole one day, that is perhaps most truest most important inner spirit behind the rally to campaign OpenOffice.org and to drive continuous support for the ODF and the open document format standard around the world.

For us who choose to drive this path to the world market and world society as a whole, we sincerely believe it would become a powerful DNA that would shape the fabric of the foundation of our digital living society for the better; producing something that would be truly useful and powerful for our greater society as a whole, today and in the upcoming future.

Towards that goal, everybody can jump in, think, act, contibute, lend-a-hand, and collaborate together further to make these vision and these steps towards establishing greater positive contribution a reality.

It is that purest and truest inner spirit of OpenOffice.org that makes supporting this cause a really worthy cause to do. Everybody is invited to participate further and to together make this a truly successful future.

OpenOffice.org Conference 2007 - Barcelona - Day 1

OpenOffice.org Conference is being held in Barcelona this year. Among many things explored and discuss, these are the few thoughts that I sense would be important moving forward:

in order for that to happen, some key aspects that perhaps need to be watchout probably as follow (pls. read in reverse, as twitter works & display information in "backward" mode) :-)

challenging yet fascinating stuff! with huge great potential in the near upcoming future, if it's being implemented and executed well.

The next step innovation shall begin.

ps: Three major players--IBM, Google and Sun--are now solidly behind a potential competing standard to Office. And -- although the front-end stuff might be eventually slightly difference here and there (online office, offline office, connected office, mobile office, etc) -- they're all agree on one common thing: ODF is the next standard document format to be. Just like the day when the world is standardizing on HTML and a web browser, this time the key players are agreeing on one thing: ODF and OpenOffice front-end. This is truly fascinating!

THIN Is The New "IN"

More than ever, thin is the new "in".

As we have increasing number of information, content and media to browse and store, "small form factor" is no longer perfect to meet our need.

Sony in the past (up to mid 1980s) was great in producing "small", beautiful, desirable digital objects. Sony Walkman, Sony Handycam, Sony radio was famous icon of its time. But what we need today is probably not exactly a "super small device" anymore.

For the purpose of browsing, navigating and viewing huge volume of digital content and information that we had in our device, what we increasingly need these days is "a slightly BIGGER size device that comes with a SUPER-THIN form factor".

So THIN is the new IN. Minuscle SMALL form factor is no longer the best and most effective form factor anymore.

As the consequences of that, the past few years, starting with the iPod, then the iMac, and other next great device to come, we start experiencing the shift and transformation in usefulness, simplicity, ergonomics of THIN form-factor-styling that fits perfectly into today's condition.

While Sony in the past was probably the king of SMALL and ergonomics/intuitive-device, through its latest THIN design approach that was started a few years back, Apple today is probably the king of most desirable THINK device with its famous most "obvious" super-friendly-interface.

Above picture describes a sample look of the latest Apple "THIN" innovation and its associated user-friendly "obvious" navigation interface mechanism.

Truly awesome.

"THIN-influenced" designed object and interface perhaps would continue proliferate and dominate to various digital device that we would see, feel and experience for the next couple of years to come.

Companies That Comes From The Heart! -- The Great Walt-Disney Story

If people think today's great Walt-Disney empire was a small-start-up-business that was "easily" built and crafted in no time during its formative years then think twice.

The essential of the Walt-Disney story -- as told by this book -- was an inspiring narrative about Walt Disney's continuous dedication, inspiration, imagination and constant genius, and his great continous struggle, to make one of the best animated movie excellence that he imagined ever possibly happen in the industry.

It is a kind of story that goes in parallel with the other great business story (and truest dedicated spirit) of Steve Jobs (during his NEXT & PIXAR struggling days), Akio Morita (during the founding of the struggling, tiny yet superbly innovative and leading SONY), Honda, Toyoda, Conrad Hilton, Ford (during the his 2 times failing formation of "the initial Ford") and Chung-Ju-Yung (The Founder of Hyundai) during his tiny struggling company's formative years.

Truest entrepreneurship spirit -- at its deepest essence -- is probably a reflection of people's inner heart and feel, and their truest desire to contribute their passion, work and act, towards inventing and discovering something that change the world (society) for the better.

In that context, truest entrepreneurs then become the truest "agent of change". Society advanced, and the world becomes a better place to be, through their greatest dedicated purest act.

In the case of Walt Disney, his continuous greatest act is finally being reflected in the formation (and discovery) of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty .. and many others, ... which eventually becomes the core foundation of his vastly expanding empire that we happen to experience today.

All these "great moments and magic" seems really comes from nothing else at all times but from the most dedicated passion, strongest will and vision, as well as truest heart, of these "Disney magic" budding entrepreneurs who passionately and dedicatedly think, act and drive all the action and ideas behind all their day to day magical act.

Perhaps it is always true that from generation to generation building business is after all perhaps never really about the money. Rather most often it is always essentially about developing, nurturing and contributing the ideas, passion, dedication and translating all that into greatest act that eventually make  the ideas, the "vision", the imagination and the passion happen into its step-by-step most successful realites.

That's how great companies (always) happened in the past. That's probably also how great companies will continously happen (again) in the future.

Companies that comes from the heart. The world would be so much better because of that.

Here Comes Barcelona!

The OpenOffice.org Conference 2007 will take place in Barcelona, and among the sponsors would be Google, IBM and Sun.

In the advent of emergence of ODF, recent "rejection of Microsoft OOXML" by the Worldwide ISO Comittee and the emergence of "Office 2.0" work productivity era, the conference will mark a special milestone, whereby the future of our office productivity technology and the future of work might be redefined.

Our company -- Worxcode -- happen to be participating as one of the international speaker, bringing up the topic of: "Beyond Microsoft: Positioning OpenOffice.org as "Web 2.0/Biz 2.0/Work 2.0/Office 2.0" front-end for offices and businesses around the world. (go to page 22 of the Conference program PDF to see the full abstract of the session).

With all these latest trend and development put into its proper place and context, this year's OpenOffice conference might be truly important and might bring its greatest significance towards the future sense and direction of "Office Productivity Tool" form, shape and style.

One day the conference perhaps has the chance to be remembered as one of the most important milestone of Office productivity progress and  development, whereby during this event the future (and new definition) of "work", how "work is being done" and how "work gets done" might soon be rediscovered and redefined.

The full agenda of the program is attached (PDF).

Download openoffice.org Conference - Barcelona 2007.pdf

Queen Elizabeth Knows Best!

In a period of turmoil, in the era of being left behind from the giants of the industry, what could great leaders do to turn around the situation?

Queen Elizabeth I of England might know best. When she took the helm of leadership of England in the early of her century, England was nothing more than a "backwater kingdom", filled with financial difficulties, great insecurity and powerless voice to speak out to the greater community.

Spain, Portugal and France was instead taking the leading role.

Yet, in those world of those daring times, she was able to think, act and prove that the world could indeed be turned around. A couple of years later: England emerge as one of the most prosperous Kingdom, beating Spain across time, and taking over Spain armada as one of the greatest kingdom that rule the waves of commerce and (world) trades.

Susan Ronald writes up a fascinating book that details the intricacies the great transformation of a "retarded kingdom" into one of the greatest kingdom of all time. She writes in full detail observing the situation in hand, and reflecting the aura of mindset and intrinsic value of the virgin queen. A set of "common behavior" that turn England into its greatest future journey and destiny of all time.

Beware Of The "Flintstones"!

In a rapidly changing market that we face today, for many "smart" reason, a lot of sales people that is selling business system solution today try to justify their "older system and older digital working process concept' through the use of the word 'best practice'.

They said their system software and digital processes is already established. It has been used since old time; it's stable, proven and 'grand'.

To boost this argument, often they also try to justify their reason by showing their beautiful Industrial Report and boast about REALLY BIG research spending they had.

These all seems like interesting (and convincing) pitch initially (although in reality it also becoming totally boring, as every other "established" company also doing the same thing). But if we really dig deeper into how such "best practices" really fit into today's actual reality, we often be very surprised.

What often be the case, the "best practice" is infact simply thin layer of a hidden moniker; an "easy salesman attempt" to hide an old rotten concept behind a "nice rug".

Rather than really peddling a REAL best practice, many "best practices" pitch today often just be a nice-try-gimmick to shut-up the customer, or to confuse and make them feel "stupider" than before.

In reality, these kind of UGLY BORING "best practices" tend to be nothing more to be an "old practices" being defended in a silly unreasonable way; a purest yet confusing reflection of the motivation and believes of the boring OLD GUARDs.

Putting all these into perspective, all these people that is still pitching "best practices" for their older "old practice"  probably really look and feel like "THE FLINTSTONES". They think they are already live in a very sophisticated world of "modern best practices",  ... while in reality ... they actually live in the age of the oldest, retarded, ugliest DINOSAURS!

With all that, each time we hear the word "best practice" again, we might perhaps need to see clearly whether we are really seeing "Mr. Jobs" pitching that words to us (which brings "GREAT, fascinating, amazing, ground-breaking practices" into our existing realm) .. or we are really looking at "Mr. Flintstone" doing that to us (which brings "OLD, boring, tiring, DINOSAURIC practices" into our realm).

Based on that, we make decision that would fit perfect into our existing realistic environment; the one that would change our organizational lives so much advanced for days and years to come ... for the better.

Mac Running OSX vs Mac Running Windows

One of the big reason of why people are switching to Mac is because they can run Windows on this beautiful and lovely machine.

They got excited hearing the news about "Windows on a Mac". They said: "Yikes! now I can run Windows and Windows programs on top of this Mac stuff!".

Sounds REALY exciting isn't it?

Probably yes initially; but may be NOT in the longer term. Let me explain why.

Running Mac On A Mac

When you run iMac with MacOSX, you got access to something great like this:

It's the typical Mac stuff: elegant simplicity, aesthetic design, excellence to the next level.

Running Windows On A Mac

Yet when you start switching one of these beautiful machine to WIndows OS, you immediately in touch again with something that is definitely less simpler, less easy to use, and consistently virus friendly until today:

By switching to Windows-on-a-Mac, you loose the power, simplicity, and elegance of the MacOSX user interface. Thousands of virus (that we have bugged us for years) now can also infiltrate our lovely machine .. and give them back the option to destroy our document, computer, file and data once more.

The Importance Of Re-Considering It Back

Considering that, perhaps the idea of Windows on a Mac is not really a beautiful idea after all. Technically it can be done. But daily, we might perhaps not gaining the whole advantages from doing such.

We simply don't want those viruses back! Ever.

For those reasons, perhaps you might want to reconsider and reconsider and reconsider again before you ever switch-back your Mac's current MacOSX system "back" to Windows.

After all, who wants to live together with those silly, ugly, crazy viruses once more ... if now we got a great chance to avoid them from coming back (and haunted us) for another more years ahead?

On my case, I simply would not.